NeilsMind.com

Vaughn (Goalie Equipment) Customer Service…

Just spent 30+ minutes on the phone with Andrea at Vaughn Hockey asking questions about goalie equipment. Vaughn is the premier hockey goaltending equipment manufacturer worn by many of the NHL goalies you know. There was a time when I considered whether the Reeboks or Bauer pads of the world were better. Now I’m sure they aren’t. 

Simply stated, the customer service Andrea provided was amazing. Answered every question and knew just what would work for my soon-to-be 13 year old’s needs as a goalie. Kudos to them for being the best at what they do and not being afraid to specialize.

(Source: vaughnhockey.com)

Why did we open an office in Virginia?

There are over 1,300 non-profit businesses in just our local county (Loudoun) that spend over $1B (yes billion) annually. Thanks to Loudoun Chamber NPI for the stats!

“The world is run by those who show up…”

Former Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce president Tom Dowling has often shared that adage when talking about volunteering. I was reminded of that when sitting in as a guest to the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce’s Non-Profit Initiative Committee meeting this morning. Really great people who are committed to helping mission driven organizations in their area. 

(As an aside, there was a speaker this morning helping the committee better understand how to use cold calling to further their mission…his presentation was good but I just bristle at the thought of making those kinds of calls day in and day out).

Dale Hunter is a coach to be admired and emulated…

So the Washington Capitals announced today that Dale Hunter will return next season as head coach. (His choice). It’s a pretty sad moment for the Caps as in just a few months he had transformed the aura of the team from a self-indulgent group of underachievers to a team whose members were willing to sacrifice their egos and bodies to win a Stanley Cup together. This marked a real turning point for the team and gave hope in a way that has not been seen in a number of years (and I’m talking since before they went to the Finals against Detroit).

What was most impressive to me was the fact that he never gave in to the drama of the sport. He kept it even keel no matter what and seemed to understand the situations at a level above the hysteria. “Two teams battling.” “Just a hockey play.” He even had the guys in the room (mind you the same guys earlier in the year who couldn’t seem to be on the same page) talking about the character in the room. His final move with the Caps once again was made without the drama we, as fans, get swept up in…he chose to be with his family next season. I could never blame a coach for choosing that…

Let the kids play…

Since my oldest boy (a goaltender) was five, we’ve purposely avoided overdoing summer hockey activities. When other families were going nuts with camp after camp and tournament after tournament, we chose to either have him play another sport in a less competitive environment (which, ironically, was where he was most nervous) or just enjoy time at home reading or playing with the family.

I’m not here to put down camps as we soon head to a goalie camp for two weeks this summer. I think the work that is done there is amazing and perhaps the best investment in his development we’ll make all year. However, a sports season is like a good story, it needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. Stretching the hockey (or any other sports season) out to be all year, particularly before high school age, takes the chance of turning a joy into monotony.

I hear from parents all the time “he loves it. I keep asking him if he wants to do more and says there’s nothing he’d like to do more.” I get it. For me (and more directly, my wife), it’s important to keep balance in our lives and sometimes that means keeping interests fresh by pursuing more than one. My sense is that a nine year old has no feeling for long term interests and does not understand the concept of burning out on something (yet).

Something we’ve enjoyed over the last week preparing for camp is Tyler has participated in Stick-N-Shoot at the local rink. As a goalie, it’s free which doesn’t hurt but, more importantly, it gives him time to just enjoy playing against other kids. It’s the closest thing to pond hockey they get around here, especially during the summer. He’s facing older kids and five year olds too. He’s just having fun and increasing his endurance.

We did reach out to a local development program but they wanted to charge $50/hour session. It’s a group practice! It’s not all about money but…wow. Particularly as a goalie, I’m not sure it would be worth the money to go.

“I’ll take care of that right now.”

This is the story of an angry customer (me) being talked off the ledge by an empowered customer service agent.

So I spent yesterday morning (and I mean all morning) trying to work out a bill with a major cellular phone carrier. My issue was that I sent a cancellation letter back in May for a data card that we hadn’t used in several months. (A data card is something that you typically plug into a laptop computer to gain Internet access through your cellular provider).

I had only waited until May because when I called in March, I was told that I would incur early termination fees if I didn’t wait until at least the end of April. I’m not quite sure why they couldn’t just put on file that my contract should end at that time and I didn’t want to continue. Actually…I am sure. It’s a tactic to get customers to forget about the cancelation and keep paying. But I digress…

So in May, I sent a signed letter on letterhead with my payment confirming my conversation from March, indicating that this served as my final payment. However, they kept billing me.

So I call and speak with someone in the finance department because we’d stopped paying back in May so I’m now way past due on the account. I don’t want the card and don’t care if it’s suspended but I also don’t want this silliness to continue.

First, I have to remember the phone number for a device that didn’t act as a phone. Ever the prepared guy (so long as my wife prepares me), I have the file in hand. Now the representative asks me for my “PIN” number.

Seriously? I have a PIN number for a cell phone account? How about a password or something I could remember?

I can’t remember a PIN but I can remember my first dog’s name so now I’m in business. I explain the situation to the person in the finance department. He says “I can understand your frustration sir, let me transfer you to Account Services.” He transfers me to Account Services.

Now we begin with the Account Services representative. I give my phone number and my first dog’s name after I once again can’t remember my PIN number and I explain the whole story of my call and subsequent letter. The representative is nice enough and says she needs to get her supervisor.

Click hmm…Time for round 2.

So I call the customer service number and get routed to finance. I give them my phone number and my first dog’s name (you know why) and explain my story about calling and sending a letter. “Oh, I’ll need to transfer you to Account Services.” In my most polite, calm voice I am agreeable to the transfer.

I speak with Account Services rep #2, give my phone number and first dog’s name, and explain the whole series of events.

Ironically, I have to plug power into my mobile phone from another carrier because the battery is going dead from being on the phone for this long.

Account Services Rep #2 puts me on hold to consult his supervisor and then indicates that he’ll need to transfer me to HCR Finance. Who the heck is HCR Finance?

Me: “I just spoke with Finance (twice) to get to you.” Acct Rep #2: “Oh, that wasn’t this finance. HCR finance is different.” Me: “What does HCR stand for?” Acct Rep #2: “They just give us the initials. I don’t know what it stands for.”

Secretly I’m thinking I’ve entered the Hostile Customer Representative Finance Department

Now I go to HCR Finance. Phone number; dog’s name; story. “Oh, I’ll need to transfer you to cancellations. “Sure. Let’s go there.”

Click hmm….

So here’s where they kept their name out of this blog post.

Call #. I call the customer service line, go to Finance (normal finance). Phone number; dog’s name; story.

I’ve become really quick at that part now

“I’ll have to transfer you to Account Services.” Right.

Account Services Rep #3 - phone number; dog’s name; story.

“I’ll handle that right now for you sir.”

Now, it turns out that I didn’t follow procedure to cancel my account. Who knew that an actual physical letter doesn’t carry as much weight as a phone call to account services but I guess their job is to make phone the chief mechanism of business. They made an accommodation, cancelled the account.

Had they cancelled the entire amount of the bill, I’d be singing their praises here. However, a guy named Antoine that just freakin’ took care of me saved yet another rant from an angry customer filling up the blogosphere with their name on it.

The mentality of a goalie

Spending the weekend at a youth hockey tournament gave me the opportunity goalies of all shapes and sizes competing. It’s really something to see and it reminded me of a core concept of taking the position. You are the team’s backbone. You are the one that the team looks to for strength, calm, intensity. When you let in a bad goal, it’s imperative that you maintain that calm and show your team that it’s ok. It might make you feel better if you let out a fit of frustration but it may make your team lose just a little bit of confidence in you. They’re not sure if you’re mentally back in the game. There are two possible outcomes of that (both of which are detrimental to the team:

1. They overcompensate defensively and try to stop everything coming at you. This leads to deflections and open players in the slot area or…
2. They overcompensate offensively by feeling as if they have to press for the goal because you’re sure to let up the next one. All of a sudden, your teammates are taking chances out of the ordinary leading to odd man rushes the other way.

Either way, it’s easy to see that your attitude after the goal is more important than the goal itself. You have to let goals roll off your back. More importantly, you have to help your team let it roll of theirs. Strength, calm, intensity.

Give them permission to fail. - How over-aggressive parents and coaches actually hurt kids chances to succeed

So my son’s squirt team is at a tournament this weekend and they are proving to be at the wrong level. They’re through the round robin and Tyler hasn’t let up a goal yet. The interesting thing is that if you watched them in warm-ups, you’d never know the difference between the teams. There are some serious skills on the teams we’re playing. There are two reasons I can see why we’re doing so well against the other teams:

1. We seem to be the only team at the tournament whose players treat the game as a unit, always looking from the time they get the puck to find an open player to move it to. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not perfect but to watch the passing and vision. True story on the bench this weekend…head coach put in a three pass rule right after our sixth goal. He was speechless when a player said “but coach, we just made three passes before that goal.

2. We play without hesitation. I am truly astounded by the shouting and negative reinforcement that comes off the benches and out of the stands of our opponents. I know it’s tough to watch your kids getting beat pretty soundly. That said, everyone faces some of those games. The best thing a coach (and a parent) can do is support and teach, not scold and put fear of embarrassment into the kids. Yelling at the top of your lungs “Come on Johnny! Skate!” just isn’t going to get him back in the game. It’s disheartening enough to lose a game by a large score. It’s far worse to have parents and coaches tearing you down and questioning your intensity.

Even in our worst games, you never hear our coaches yelling in that manner. The time to teach is when they come off the ice, quietly and with positive reinforcement. One might argue that it has a lot to do with our kids playing with such speed and confidence.